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It Isn’t The Load That Weighs Us Down; It’s The Way We Carry It

In the movie “Wild” the main character, Cheryl Strayed hikes over 1000 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail; an extremely challenging endeavor. In the beginning of the story she can barely lift her backpack. It is stuffed with many unnecessary items. As a result she suffers much exhaustion in the early days of her hike. Along her journey she learns about eliminating items from the backpack and how to pack it correctly.
When you think about it, a backpack is a good metaphor for the challenges we face in life. It’s impossible for us not to have lots of items to fill that pack. A good life strategy is to realize that we don’t need to carry those challenges along the entire journey. When we learn how to let go of things that have happened in the past, our pack gets much lighter. It also allows us the room to properly deal with new challenges when they arise. When we are loading our backpack there is also a science as to where we place the items based on need, importance and weight. The same holds true with how we deal with life’s demands. Priorities must be put into place to help us in our decision making.
Cheryl Strayed the protagonist in “Wild” learned how to pack on the trail. We get our life packing training in the rooms of AA, NA and OA.

Personal Reflection: Am I carrying my life backpack in the most efficient way?